book diary

no problem!! if you’re comfortable sharing, what year are you currently in? i ask this as i’m an a level student so curious as to how you’re balancing reading for fun + studies bc i’ve had no time for ages 😭

alsooo since you’re liking percy jackson you could read rick riordan’s books! although i’ve never read them and i grew with watching the film first, 😂 i heard they’re very good and people like the show because they’re accurate to the books. although i’ve never been a fan of watching something that’s book accurate then reading those books after 😅

if you’re interested in norse mythology btw which is how i got so interested in greek myths after and ended up taking classics bc of it, i recommend rick riordan’s magnus chase series. i think it’s 3 books and also a book called ‘norse mythology’ by neil gaiman! (hope i spelt his surname correct lol)

Ok, everyone. Another update.
I have a problem.
So, I've just ordered another book. Which I was not supposed to do because im on a budget (your girls broke, have some mercy). It's A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This is an infamous book, and all those tiktoks on it were just so tempting. Someone put handcuffs on me and take me away rn-😀 Just waiting for the day I get my card taken away from my parents, like honestly. I'm gonna get a lecture when that package shows up at my door. I think I'm going to do more online reading from now on bc this is not good. BUT I dont even have that many books, not like shelves and shelves, racks and racks and piles and piles of books at least. I have a decent collection which I'm trying to expand because it's my passion and hobby. I am most certainly not from a privileged background that I can afford to buy all the books I want at whatever time I want. So I'm super grateful for the books I do have! If you want to know what they are so yk what books I've read, I'll list them down below:

+ ones I've done on this page so far (fourth wing, a streetcar named desire) (Soon to be added - a little life)
+ the song of achilles
+ the first 3 books of shatter me (shatter me, unravel me, ignite me)
+ agggtm trilogy (a good girls guide to murder, good girl bad blood, as good as dead)
+ the folk of the air trilogy (the cruel prince, the wicked king, the queen of nothing)
+ the inheritance games trilogy (ones of my faves) (the inheritance games, the hawthorne legacy, the final gambit) (series was a gift from my cousin who loved them and i resonated the same opinions after reading so love her for that🤗)
+ six of crows (KAZ AND INEJ‼)
+ twisted series (😇) (twisted love, twisted games, twisted hate, twisted lies)
+ picture of dorian gray (fav classic, easy to read and understand too)
+ 1984 (classic dystopian)
+ the stranger (camus🙏)
+ little women (stan the march sisters)
+ dracula
+ frankenstein
+ one flew over the cuckoo's nest (my english teacher gave me this for further reading and said i could keep it😅)
+ the bloody chamber (same as previous book)
+ a few dork diaries books (dont ask, these were my childhood, are veryyy old and i cherish them with my heart) (who else read or remembers these??!)
+ punk 57 (AHHH!)
+ the brothers karamazov (masterpiece.)
+ the bell jar (sylvia plath is just that girl) (got this as a gift from mama<3)
+ it ends with us, ugly love and verity (fyi i DO NOT like colleen hover or any of these books i've just listed- i was just one of those who loved to followed the trends🌚)
+ lolita (very disturbing book btw)
+ this disney princess book collection
+ the harry potter series (courtesy of my beloved cousins)
+ the goldfinch, the secret history (my tutor got me secret history for my birthday last year)
+ haunting adeline (only the first book and let me say... whoa😧) (was semi permanently scarred for a few days😭✋)
+ love hypothesis (this was such a cute read🤭) (had to hide the cover from my parents tho--)
+ all the bright places (finch and violet deserve better💔) (bought during covid)
+ the seven husband of evelyn hugo (made me cry)
+ the silent patient (i dont tolerate any hate towards this book)
+ hooked, scarred (from the never after series which is a series dedicated to dark disney retellings where the villain gets the girl)
+ icebreaker (this was just filthy smut ibr)
+ if he had been with me (f*cking soul wrenching) (tears rolling down my face sort of pain)
+ the kite runner, a thousand splendid suns (SOBBED, both were traumatising but soo good, would recommend 11/10) (my friend got me kite runner)
+ the secret garden (my childhood, first read when i was 10)
+ the handmaids tale
+ boy in the striped pajamas (first heartbreak) (read this in yr6 and still have it)
+ anna karenina (way too intimidated to read this) (was a gift from my cousin who's too old to understand that as a 14 year old i was not gonna be able to read this😔)
+ the ballad of songbirds and snakes (my mama bought this for me (for no reason really))
+wuthering heights, jane eyre (bronte sisters) (havent read either) (again birthday gifts from mama💕)
+ kings of sin (recent christmas gift, although i dont celebrate, from my best friend) (king of wrath, king of greed, king of pride)
+ no longer human, child of fortune (by father osamu dazai and daughter yuko tsushima respectively) (picked up these gems at a local charity shop, honestly got so lucky) (you can sort of tell the influence dazai had on tsushima) (a misanthropic father who unalived himself when his daughter was 1 and that same daughter growing up to write about broken families, single mothers and death)

Side note, most of these are from The Works and can I say they have such good prices?? They're so affordable and me and that shop are like 🤞 And if you couldn't tell, a few were gifts from people for birthdays and other occasions! That's it for today.
Have a lovely rest of your weekends, queens!!

wow thats a lottttttt of books

Ok, everyone. Another update.
I have a problem.
So, I've just ordered another book. Which I was not supposed to do because im on a budget (your girls broke, have some mercy). It's A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This is an infamous book, and all those tiktoks on it were just so tempting. Someone put handcuffs on me and take me away rn-😀 Just waiting for the day I get my card taken away from my parents, like honestly. I'm gonna get a lecture when that package shows up at my door. I think I'm going to do more online reading from now on bc this is not good. BUT I dont even have that many books, not like shelves and shelves, racks and racks and piles and piles of books at least. I have a decent collection which I'm trying to expand because it's my passion and hobby. I am most certainly not from a privileged background that I can afford to buy all the books I want at whatever time I want. So I'm super grateful for the books I do have! If you want to know what they are so yk what books I've read, I'll list them down below:

+ ones I've done on this page so far (fourth wing, a streetcar named desire) (Soon to be added - a little life)
+ the song of achilles
+ the first 3 books of shatter me (shatter me, unravel me, ignite me)
+ agggtm trilogy (a good girls guide to murder, good girl bad blood, as good as dead)
+ the folk of the air trilogy (the cruel prince, the wicked king, the queen of nothing)
+ the inheritance games trilogy (ones of my faves) (the inheritance games, the hawthorne legacy, the final gambit) (series was a gift from my cousin who loved them and i resonated the same opinions after reading so love her for that🤗)
+ six of crows (KAZ AND INEJ‼)
+ twisted series (😇) (twisted love, twisted games, twisted hate, twisted lies)
+ picture of dorian gray (fav classic, easy to read and understand too)
+ 1984 (classic dystopian)
+ the stranger (camus🙏)
+ little women (stan the march sisters)
+ dracula
+ frankenstein
+ one flew over the cuckoo's nest (my english teacher gave me this for further reading and said i could keep it😅)
+ the bloody chamber (same as previous book)
+ a few dork diaries books (dont ask, these were my childhood, are veryyy old and i cherish them with my heart) (who else read or remembers these??!)
+ punk 57 (AHHH!)
+ the brothers karamazov (masterpiece.)
+ the bell jar (sylvia plath is just that girl) (got this as a gift from mama<3)
+ it ends with us, ugly love and verity (fyi i DO NOT like colleen hover or any of these books i've just listed- i was just one of those who loved to followed the trends🌚)
+ lolita (very disturbing book btw)
+ this disney princess book collection
+ the harry potter series (courtesy of my beloved cousins)
+ the goldfinch, the secret history (my tutor got me secret history for my birthday last year)
+ haunting adeline (only the first book and let me say... whoa😧) (was semi permanently scarred for a few days😭✋)
+ love hypothesis (this was such a cute read🤭) (had to hide the cover from my parents tho--)
+ all the bright places (finch and violet deserve better💔) (bought during covid)
+ the seven husband of evelyn hugo (made me cry)
+ the silent patient (i dont tolerate any hate towards this book)
+ hooked, scarred (from the never after series which is a series dedicated to dark disney retellings where the villain gets the girl)
+ icebreaker (this was just filthy smut ibr)
+ if he had been with me (f*cking soul wrenching) (tears rolling down my face sort of pain)
+ the kite runner, a thousand splendid suns (SOBBED, both were traumatising but soo good, would recommend 11/10) (my friend got me kite runner)
+ the secret garden (my childhood, first read when i was 10)
+ the handmaids tale
+ boy in the striped pajamas (first heartbreak) (read this in yr6 and still have it)
+ anna karenina (way too intimidated to read this) (was a gift from my cousin who's too old to understand that as a 14 year old i was not gonna be able to read this😔)
+ the ballad of songbirds and snakes (my mama bought this for me (for no reason really))
+wuthering heights, jane eyre (bronte sisters) (havent read either) (again birthday gifts from mama💕)
+ kings of sin (recent christmas gift, although i dont celebrate, from my best friend) (king of wrath, king of greed, king of pride)
+ no longer human, child of fortune (by father osamu dazai and daughter yuko tsushima respectively) (picked up these gems at a local charity shop, honestly got so lucky) (you can sort of tell the influence dazai had on tsushima) (a misanthropic father who unalived himself when his daughter was 1 and that same daughter growing up to write about broken families, single mothers and death)

Side note, most of these are from The Works and can I say they have such good prices?? They're so affordable and me and that shop are like 🤞 And if you couldn't tell, a few were gifts from people for birthdays and other occasions! That's it for today.
Have a lovely rest of your weekends, queens!!

i love your taste in books! some of these i’ve bought for a while and have had literally NO time to read them so i’ve vowed to start reading some books after my january mocks and bag out loads of book after my may exams lol.

some books you’ve mentioned like folk of the air series, six of crows, it ends with us, picture of dorian gray, icebreaker, seven husbands of evelyn hugo, donna tartt books, inheritance games etc are some i’ve either started and never came back to, or have on my shelf and haven’t started yet 😭 it’s that bad because my TBR keeps expanding and i have so much i wanna read in the shortest amount of time and yet i feel guilty sometimes that i rlly need to focus on my studies first before any leisure reading😭

have you watched the shadow and bone show? i’m SO mad they cancelled it i signed the petition to bring it back 😭 KAZ IS MY LOVEEE

alsoo what was your opinion on the folk of air series? i recently downloaded the trilogy on my kindle because they were free in prime reading and heard good things about them

THANK YOU SO MUCH😚 All the listed book and are amazing and I personally love them. The thing with me is that I do RESEARCH before buying ANY book and i have a thing where if I’m unsure if I’ll like a book, I go to my local library which is literally a ten minutes walk away, find that book, read a few chapters and then make a decision😅
NOO I also have a problem bc my tbr is messed up. I currently have 167 books pending on it😭😭
Oh the Netflix series?? I haven’t been able to watch it but I’ve seen clips of it on TikTok😄
Folk of the air is 10/10, my fav fantasy series ever. The tension between the female lead and male lead was just😩😩😩 Not a lot of romance but even the limited scenes were just🦋🦋 The plot was pretty good too. I love, love, love this trilogy. Could talk about it forever🫠

yess i always check how many pages they are, or the best order to read a series loll and then check amazon and waterstones for the best prices 😂 the netflix series is SOO good i mean KAZ 😍 dude who plays him is a HOTTIE and works so well for kaz i’m so mad they cancelled the show

i am really hoping to read the series soon is there any mature content in it? i don’t have an issue with it i’m just curious LOLL 😀

alsooo have u heard of/read a series called the atlas six? heard it’s very good apparently and seen it on booktok a lot but haven’t had a chance to research it

ANDDD how was the shatter me series?

yess i always check how many pages they are, or the best order to read a series loll and then check amazon and waterstones for the best prices 😂 the netflix series is SOO good i mean KAZ 😍 dude who plays him is a HOTTIE and works so well for kaz i’m so mad they cancelled the show

i am really hoping to read the series soon is there any mature content in it? i don’t have an issue with it i’m just curious LOLL 😀

alsooo have u heard of/read a series called the atlas six? heard it’s very good apparently and seen it on booktok a lot but haven’t had a chance to research it

ANDDD how was the shatter me series?

Oh my gosh PLEASE read Six of Crows! Favourite books ever! Don’t read the shadow and bone trilogy itself - it’s slow and boring in comparison. Six of crows follows Wylan Kaz Inej Jesper Matthias and Nina on a fantasy heist and the duology is just chefs kiss! I’m so mad about the show too, it introduced me to Nikolai who apparently was in the og trilogy but I don’t want to read it lol, so now I want to read the King Of Scars duology which is based on him and Zoya!

I’ve got The Atlas Six too! Haven’t read it yet but I’m so excited too! I’ve got way to many books on my tbr haha.

And answering another of your questions - Folk of air series is class. Be warned it is a fantasy book before it’s a romance, but it is soooo good! I started when I was 13, read 80 pages and got bored since I didn’t get the plot, then picked it up earlier this year and once it got into it I was hooked and read the trilogy in a week.

My new fave fantasy/romance duology though has to be Dance of thieves, if you haven’t read it please do!

I couldn’t have explained it better than @study23! tbh. She’s absolutely correct in saying six of crows was better than the shadow and bone series. but six of crows comes as a duopoly with six of crows and crooked kingdom.It doesn’t have any mature content that’s like🔞
I’ve heard mixed opinions about atlas six. Some people have said it was the best fantasy dark academia book they’ve ever picked up. And then some have said the writing quality was trying too hard to sound smart and they hated that. Personally, I haven’t got this book or ever read it so I couldn’t give an opinion😭
Shatter me series was good. A solid 4/5. If I’m being harsh I will say it was a bit of a tough cookie to chew especially during the second book. I mean, it was boring. But important for the plot bc when we get to the third book….let me just say😩 Ignite me was one of my fav books of 2023. I LOVED how the romance unfolded in this book. And there’s soooo many iconic booktok quotes from this book🤣. The first book, shatter me, was relatively decent. Nothing that special compared to ignite me though imo😅 But as a whole, the first three book were solid. There’s two other two books to the series that I haven’t bought yet. And there’s novellas in between each book which I’m not personally interested in and haven’t done research on. But if you’re into that kind of thing, you could look into it!

fairs i’ve heard shatter me series deserves some credit unlike the craze colleen hoover gets 😂

Hi all!
Back with another review. So, I forgot to do this yesterday because I did finish the book yesterday in one sitting. (Spoiler🙄) I was crying (end of spoiler🙄). I finished the book and ten minutes later came on TSR to write up my review but I just couldn't stop the damn tears and decided not to post my review yesterday😭😭 If you think I'm being dramatic, you're wrong. My younger sister walked past my room giving me a dirty ass look because my eyes were red and there was snot running down my nose with a pile of used tissue next to me (i was a mess ok?💀 my boy deserved better. and plus i'm not good with emotional/traumatic things but i love to read them anyways??). This book literally had me crying, screaming, throwing, up, pulling my hair out. It really left me devastated, distraught and utterly sure that I'm going to think about Achilles and Patroclus for everyday for the rest of my lifetime.
So, with that being said, let's get into the review.



Firstly, I was to start by taking a moment to appreciate Miller writing. I mean it was very good. Certain things/events/moments she described so impeccably. From my own observation, Miller has a way of manipulating words to make them sound beautiful to read on paper and at the same time, make them power enough to elicit strong emotion out of readers (well at least me). There are certain moments where this is obvious, but I'm trying my best to refrain myself from giving any spoilers so I will not be giving out any examples. I just feel like the words in the book oozed eloquence. I don't know if this is a dramatic statement to make, but I personally felt this way. Her writing is gorgeous and made my personal reading experience a 10/10 because even with the wordiness, I found the book relatively easy to understand. It wasn't complex or pseudo-coded. Just simple yet powerful and beautiful. Oh, and the way she writes the romance is to amazing too. The whole story is dedicated to the love and bond between Achilles and Patroclus, however I feel like this book didn't have their romance sticking out like a sore thumb like you would expect. It's there, holistically and all throughout, but so carefully placed that it's a clear vessel that capture the essence of their love story without overriding the overarching plot of the story which the pre, during and post Trojan war. It stays perfectly true to the plot whilst Miller adds the uniqueness of her interpretation of Homer's Iliad which is the homosexual, rather than familial, love between the two main heroes and incorporates it in such a way the plot that the two flow in perfect rhythmic harmony. She pulled it off so well and I'm sure this is a thing not many writers can do, not to even say do it well.
Secondly, I want to talk about the characters. The characters. I grew very attached from Patroclus from the beginning and all throughout the continuity of the story. I don't know if this was because it was simply written in his POV, but something about his character really made me create a strong emotional bond with him. (SPOILER) He is the black sheep of his family, someone who struggles to live up to expectations and social norms. He is not the Prince his land wishes for. He is not the soldier his Father wanted. He is like his mother, who too is outcasted and neglected from society simply because she is deemed 'different'. He is simply a mortal who is 'clumsy' and 'weak'. Yet still so powerful in his own ways. This resonated with me so well, and I love characters like Patroclus. He was my favorite character in this book. Also, I loved his relationship with Briseis. From the moment, he saved her I just knew. I just knew Patroclus was just going to be that character for me. Their relationship is tragic, as is every other relationship and character in this book. So that brings me nicely on to the next character, Briseis. I loved this women, like truly from the bottom of my heart. She was just so pure and whole-hearted. She loved Patroclus right through the very end even though he rejected the only thing she ever asked of him. I feel like that's just so beautiful, because it shows that a man and woman do not need to be in love to have a relationship with one and another that's just filled with love. Up next is Achilles. I will say that I didn't expect to feel so distant from this character. But then again, this might just also be due to the fact that the book is in Patroclus' POV. So Achilles, is a very interested character. I didn't like him as per say, at least not as much as a I did Patroclus because there was just some things that he did that rubbed me off in the wrong way. I'm not going to say what these were since it would give spoilers (duh. well i'm acting like i didn't give spoilers about patroclus just a few sentences up🙄. sorry about that.) BUT, major but, these were things towards the end. or like just before the end. I feel like, it's valid to say that at the end of the day, we've got to cut Achilles some slack. Like come on now, he might have done some **** things, made some questionable choices all for the sake of his reputation, but he is the Iliad's tragic hero. And key word 'tragic'; his struggles in life are saddening and should not be overlooked in any way, shape or form. He did (quite literally) everything for love. He had to go through the hardships of fighting during the Trojan war. Seeing his best friend, closest companion and lover die out in the war he was trying to protect him from. He had to sacrifice his own life knowingly in a brute way so that he could reunite with his lover. But he couldn't even truly do that after either because Patroclus' was not named on his monument as he wanted it to be and it was the only way (somehow) that the two could reunite in their afterlife. And the person who was the reason behind them finally rejoicing and uniting in love that's going to be eternal? Achille's mother. Look I hated this ***** at the start, but Thetis' (very late and overdue) character development had me sobbing. I couldn't believe she was the person that would etch Patroclus' name, with her own hands, on Achilles' grave. I think this is a key moment, since it shows how everything Thetis did, no matter how cruel and unfair, was for her son. Although she was against the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles, at least she realised that the only way her son will be at rest is if she lets him reunite with his lover. And this must've been very hard on her as a mother, like I get it. The one thing she tried so hard resisting and trying to block, is ultimately what she gave into in the end and I think she truly was the perfect ending.
Thirdly, this book was just so good... (ik you're wondering, when's she gonna stop yapping out this same thing🤣, but hear me out) Miller's take on Homer's Iliad and the heroic decline of both Patroclus and Achilles is told in the POV of the lover who feels weaker than the other, is belittled to be the 'less handsome' one, told he's undeserving of his significant other and in the end he's the one that bets all the odds and comes out better than anyone else in his life. Patroclus deserves the world and I would give that to him if I could. The story is filled with themes of love, violence and redemption, fate, belief and control, honor, pride and legacy, gender, power and agency, stereotypes, responsibility and ownership- and overall very skillfully executed.

To finish this off, I would like to present to you all my favorite (and also famous) piece of dialogue in the story shared between none other than our two star crossed lovers; Achilles and Patroclus.:


Sooo, that is it for today. Let me know what you thought, if you've red this book, want to read or are going to be adding it on your TBR.
Keep hydrated, eat well, stay safe and have a lovely rest of you day !! 💗

oh yhh no problem, im in yr11. the thing is idk have THAT much time but im a heavy procrastinator and i force myself to make time for leisure instead of forcing myself to make time to maximising revision😅
yess i need to check out rick's books, but i just dk yet. i need to manage my money better bc i have only a few quid to my name right now bc i spent it all on a few books, chocolates and jewlery. honestly need a financial bank plan or something😭😭
yesss, i grew up watching the original movies with logan lerman and alexandra daddario too so the movies have a special place in my heart even though ik it isnt book accurate but how can i nit pick that when i havent even read the percy jackson and the olympians series.
have you by any chance read the trials of opollo since i want to get into that series first because opollo is my fav olympian (but then again iddkkk bc i a lot of people recommend reading in order🤣).
oh ad btw what's norse mythology? i feel dumb for asking but is it like the normans and medieval era?

yayyy so happy u read it! i get u on the emotion it was a disaster for me 😭 curious as to how long it took u to read bc i swear i told u abt the book recently loll

sorry i realised i didn’t answer your questions here! tbh i’ve only read magnus chase from rick because i was first interested in norse mythology before greek

norse mythology are the myths and stories during the viking/Scandinavian era! this includes figures like thor, loki, odin you may have heard is you like Marvel. i basically have a massive (unhealthy) obsession with loki from marvel and got into norse mythology bc it’s more loki content for me😂 but they’re really interesting stories.

omg so glad someone else is on the same page😭😭😭i'm a very quick reader so i read all in about 4 hours. Ok so basically you recommended it to me, and i already by then ordered the book on amazon last week. And either it was later that day or the day after that my package came with the book (it came on friday, i cant remember when you recommended sorry😅) and i didnt open it till sunday because i used saturday to relax. Like i said i finished very quick because i'm a relatively faster reader than most it seems- on average i can finish a book a day, like it does not take me that long to read 300 pages😂 hope that cleared it up x

Ohh, okk that makes sense. Oml I remember when Loki came out it 2021, and i binge watched that showww so much during that year. I had an obsession with his character too, but I think I've grown out of it now!!😅

oh my gosh i’ve loved him since like year 7 and now it’s year 13 😭 bro my pfp 😭😂